Biography

12 January 1946, San Rafael, California, USA. Duke studied the piano at school (where he ran a Les McCann -inspired Latin band) and emerged from the San Francisco Conservatory as a Bachelor of Music in 1967. From 1965-67 he was resident pianist at the Half Note, accompanying musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Kenny Dorham. This grounding served as a musical education for the rest of his life. He arranged for a vocal group, the Third Wave, and toured Mexico in 1968. In 1969, he began playing with French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, using electric piano to accompany Pontys electric violin. He played on King Kong, an album of music Frank Zappa composed for Ponty. He then joined Zappas group in 1970, an experience that transformed his music. As he put it, previously he had been too musically advanced to play rock n roll piano triplets. Zappa encouraged him to sing and joke and use electronics. Together they wrote Uncle...